Antifriction center-bearing for railway-cars.



PATENTED DEC. 18, 1906.

I J. F. O'CONNOR. ANTIFRIGTION CENTER BEARING FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3. 1906.

NW, A

UNITED sirAr-nsggrnn r or non.

JOHN F. OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WV. H. MINER COMPANY,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 18, 1906.

Application filed. August 3, 1906. Serial No. 328,975.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States,residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Antifriction Center-BearingsforRailway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to antifriction centerbearings for railway-cars orother vehicles.

The object of my invention is to provide an antifriction center-bearingfor railway-cars of a simple, efficient, strong, and durableconstruction in which under the oscillating movement of the bolsters therollers or antifriction devices will always rotate continuously in thesame direction so that they will wear uniformly around their wholecircumference, and thus prevent the wearing of flat spots thereon.

My invention consists in the means I employ to practically accomplishthis object or result--that is to say, it consists, in connection withthe body and truck bolsters, one havin an oscillating movement inrespect to the other, of a pair of center-plates secured to saidbolsters and preferably furnished with annular cone-faced treads ontheir meeting faces; an annular intermediate plate interposed betweenthe upper and lower centerplates; two sets of antifriction devices,preferably radially-arranged conical rollers, one set interposed betweenthe upper centerplate and the annular intermediate plate and the otherset interposed between the lower center-plate and the annularintermediate plate, and two roller-spacing spiders, one for the upperset of rollers and the other for the lower set of rollers, eachfurnished with a series of roller-chocking lips, one for each roller ofeach set, each operating to permit its roller to turn in one directionand to chock its roller from turning in the opposite direction, thechocking-lips of the upper spider permitting the upper set of rollers toturn when the bolsters oscillate in one direction in respect to eachother and the chocking-lips of the lower spider operating to permit thelower set of rollers to turn when the bolsters oscillate in the oppositedirection in respect'to each other, whereby both sets of rollers arecaused to always rotate in the same direction when they turn at all. Thetwo sets of rollers or anti- My invention also consists in the novelconstruction of parts and devices and in the novel combinations of partsand devices herein shown and described.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a central vertical section of an antifriction side bearingembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 2 2 ofFig. 1, showing half of the intermediate annular late in plan. Fig. 3 isa partial elevation, partly in vertical section, with the peripheralrims ofthe centerplates broken away. Fig. 4 is a detail central verticalsection of the lower spacingspider on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

I11 the drawings, A represents the bodybolster of a railway-car or othervehicle; B, the upper center-plate secured thereto; C,the truck-bolster;D, the lower center-plate secured thereto; E, the intermediate annularplate; F, the upper set of antifriction devices, preferably conicalrollers F, the lower set of antifriction devioes,preferably conicalrollers G, the upper roller-spacing spider and G the lowerroller-spacing spider, and H the kingbolt which connects the bolstersand centerplates.

The upper center-plate B preferably has an annular conical tread I), andthe lower center plate D a corresponding annular conical tread d, andthe intermediate plate E, which is interposed between the upper andlower sets of rollers, is preferably a plain fiat ring with parallelupper and lower faces to bear against the rollers, each set of conicalrollers thus occupying a somewhat inclined position. The center-plates BD are provided with interengaging annular flanges or rims b d, therim 1) of the upper plate B preferably surrounding the rim d of thelower plate D as the two rims telescope together. The

upper center-plate B has a central recess b in which fits the annularhub d of the lower centor-plate. The roller-spacing spiders G G are eachfurnished with a plurality of radial pockets g, one for each of therollers F F. Eachof the roller-pockets 9 preferably has one upright wallg, and its other radial wall g is provided with a roller-chocking lip 9projecting slightly under its roller, said chocking-lip g preferablyhaving an inner surface 9, curved similarly to the periphery of itsroller and operating to chock the roller from turning when the'bolstersoscillate in one direction, but leaving the roller free to turn when thebolster oscillates in the other direction. The roller-chocking lips g ofthe upper spider G are arranged on one side of the rollers F and operateto chock the rollers F fromturning when the oscillation of the bolstersis toward the left, while the roller-chocking lips .g on the lowerspider G are on the opposite side of the rollers F and operate to chockthe lower set of rollers F from turning when the oscillation of thebolsters is toward the right. Successive oscillations of the bolsterstoward the left thus impart successive turning movements in one 'and thesame direction to the upper set"o'frollers F, while successiveoscillations of the bolsters in the opposite direction impart successiveturning movements to the lower set of rollers F in the oppositedirection, each set of rollers alternately turning and alternately beingchocked or locked from turning, according as the bolsters oscillate inone direction or the other. The intermediate-annular plate E is thusgiven a continuous turning movement always in the same direction, thesame being alternately locked or chocked to the upper and lowercenter-plates and the rollers contacting therewith. The spiders G and Gfit loosely between the intermediate annular plate E and the upper andlower centerlates, and the intermediate annular plate E ikewise fitsloosely between the upper and lower center-plates. The upper and lowerspiders G G, with their roller-chocking lips arranged on opposite sidesof their respective rollers, thus serve somewhat after the principle ofa pawl and ratchet to impart movement in one direction only to theinterposed annular plate E through the cooperative action of the upperand lower sets of rollers F F.

As in my invention the upper and lower sets of rollers F F always turneach successively in the same direction about its own axis and as theintermediate annular plate E always turns successively in the same direction, the entire periphery of each roller is uniformly acted upon andwears uniformly without any tendency to produce flat spots thereon, andthe same also applies to the intermediate plateE.

In my invention while the rollers of the upper set rotate about theirown axes in the opposite direction from that in which the rollers of thelower set rotate about their own axes both sets of rollers travel aroundthe center-plates in the same direction and in the same direction thatthe intermediate plate rotates about its axis.

I claim 1. In an antifriction center-plate for railway-cars, thecombination with a body-bolster and a truck-bolster, of an upper centerplate secured to the body-bolster and having an annular conical tread onits lower face, a lower center-plate secured to the truck-bolster andhaving an annular conical tread on its upper face, an intermediateannular plate interposed between said centerplates, an upper set ofconical rollers between said upper center-plate and said intermediateplate, a lower set of conical rollers between said lower center-plateand said intermediate plate, and two roller-spacing spiders eachprovided with radial pockets, one for each roller, furnished, withroller-chocking lips, each serving to chock its roller from turning inone direction and. to permit it to turn in the opposite direction, theroller chocking lips on the upper spider chocking the upper rollers fromturning when the bolsters oscillate in one direction and theroller-chocking lips on the lower spider chocking the lower set ofrollers from turning when the bolsters oscillate in the oppositedirection whereby the rotary movement of each roller is caused to besuccessively always in the same direction about its own axis and causedto wear uniformly, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with upper and lower center-plates having annularconical treads on their meeting faces, of an intermediate plateinterposed between the center-plates, an upper set of rollers and alower set of roll ers between said plates, an upper roller-spacingspider furnished with means for chocking the upper set of rollers fromturning when the bolsters oscillate in one direction and a lowerroller-spacing spider furnished with means for chocking the lower set ofrollers from turning when the bolsters oscillate in Eh?i oppositedirection, substantially as specie 3. The combination with upper andlower center-plates having annular conical treads on their meetingfaces, of an intermediate plate interposed between the center-plates, anupper set of rollers and a lower set of rollers between said plates, anupper rollerspac ing spider furnished with means for chocking fromturning when the bolsters oscillate in the opposite direction, saidcenter-plates having interengaging or telescoping annular rims,substantially as specified.

4. The combination with upper and lower center-plates, of anintermediate plate, upper and lower sets of antifriction devices, oneset on eachside of said intermediate plate,means for chocking or lockingthe upper set of antifriction devices from turningwhen the centerplatesoscillate in one direction and means for locking or chocking the lowerset of antifriction devices from turning when the center-platesoscillate in the opposite direction, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with upper and lower oscillatory plates, of anintermediate plate, two sets of antifriction devices, one set on eachside of said intermediate plate and means for alternately locking saidsets of antifriction devices from turning, one set when the oscillatoryplates oscillate in one direction and the other set when the oscillatoryplates oscillate in the other direction, substantially as specified.

6. The combination with two oscillatory plates, of an intermediateplate, two sets of antifriction devices, one set on each side of saidintermediate plate, said sets of antifriction devices being alternatelyfree to rotate and locked from rotation according as the oscillatoryplates oscillate in one direction or the other, substantially asspecified.

7. The combination with the two oscillatory plates, of an intermediateplate, two sets.of antifriction devices, one on each side of saidintermediate plate, two spiders each furnished with chock devices forchocking or locking the antifriction devices from turning in onedirection, substantially as specified.

S. The combination with an upper centerplate, of a lower center-plate,an intermediate loose plate, two sets of rollers between said plates,two roller-spacing spiders each furnished with a roller-chocking devicefor locking or chocking its adjacent roller from turning in onedirection, substantially as specified.

9. The combination with an up er centerplate having a conical tread onits ower face, of a lower center-plate having a conical tread on itsupper face, an intermediate loose plate, two sets of conical rollers,one set on each side of said intermediate plate, an upper roller-spacingspider furnished with pockets, one for each roller and provided withroller-chocking devices, one for each roller, and a lower roller-spacingspider furnished with pockets, one for each roller and provided withroller-chocking devices, one for each roller, substantially asspecified.

10. The coinbinationwith an upper centerplate having a conical tread onits lower face, of a lower center-plate having aconical tread on itsupper face, an intermediate loose plate, two sets of conical rollers,one set on each side of said intermediate plate, an upper roller-spacingspider furnished with pockets, one for each roller and provided withrollerchocking devices, one for each roller, and a lower roller-spacingspider furnished with pockets, one for each roller, and provided withroller-chocking devices, one for each roller, the roller-chocking deviceon the upper spider operating to lock or chock the upper rollers fromturning when the centerplates oscillate in one direction in respect toeach other and the roller-chocking devices on the lower spider operatingto chock the lower set of rollers from turning when the centerplatesoscillate in the other direction in respect to each other, substantiallyas specified.

JOHN F. OCONNOR.

Witnesses:

EDMUND ADoooK, H. M. MUNDAY.

